In Luck
by GamberDragon
Summary: FE9. Volke. Sothe. In Mainal Temple Volke accepts one of the lowest prices ever offered to him. While not romantic or pairing-like, it is how I see it all starting.


**In Luck**

**Haar: **Fire Emblem does not belong to GamberDragon.

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Dazing heights, pure white pillars stretching high in the heavens, as if to reach for the clouds themselves. Everything was pristine and well kept, the flowers groomed almost obsessively, not a dash of dirt touched the walls of Temple Mainal. Sothe, with his grimy, sweat-stained clothes, felt deeply out of place.

As much as anyone else in his party, he wanted to leave Begnion quickly; for Queen Elincia to finish her business with the Apostle and then be on their way to Daein. Of course, he had quite different reasons for wanting to see Daein. But he knew he wasn't the only one to feel like they were tainting the ridiculous beauty that was Mainal Temple.

Sothe silently walked through the courtyard connected to the rooms that he and the rest of the Greil Mercenaries were staying at. Mia and Mist were listening avidly to something that Titania was saying, both looking eager and utterly unaware of everything else going on. Zihark was overlooking a spar going on between Boyd and Commander Ike. Gatrie was nowhere to be seen, most likely flirting with a maid or gardener…Or maybe a Holy Knight if he was stupid enough. Sothe couldn't say for sure.

Ilyana had disappeared into the kitchens some time ago, and the thief wouldn't be surprised if she was able to charm someone into giving her food, simply by being herself. Kieran wasn't visible, but Sothe could vaguely hear him speaking through one of the walls - from what he could gather, he was ranting to an unfortunate Marcia. Oscar was deftly avoiding the red-haired Paladin, and Rolf was shooting at a target nailed to a tree. Lethe and Mordecai were nowhere to be seen, for obvious reasons, and Jill, who Sothe could guess about.

Despite everyone going about what they normally did, Sothe could tell no one was truly at ease; instead, they were distracting themselves with something familiar. Not to mention, it was downright boring here; the mercenaries doing all they could to entertain themselves.

Sothe wasn't faring as well - so far, he had managed to walk around, eat a small breakfast, walk around some more, and watch the other mercenaries. The thief sighed and decided he'd try to find something more entertaining inside of the sleeping quarters. Or maybe he'd just go take a nap. Lack of things so do was making him more tired than he really should be.

The young greenette made his way to his room, which was shared with Volke only; Sothe would never admit to anyone who didn't know that he had asked Ike for this arrangement. Only Ike, who he had asked, and Volke - who somehow had found out - knew. The older thief had asked, back when they were on Nasir's ship, about why Sothe had done so.

He wanted to train under Volke, but apparently, the thief had a price for everything. From that day onward, he had stolen money and started saving. He hadn't yet asked what the elder man would ask for, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to save up an indefinable sum. So far, the amount was two-thousand, it would've been more if it wasn't for the fact that he was working for Ike and had to give up most of his earnings to Soren for outfitting. Sothe sighed, somehow, he didn't think he was even close to having enough.

Finally, he reached his room and stepped inside; he shut the door and slowly realized he wasn't actually alone. Volke was reclining on his bed, looking a tad tense. Sothe blinked at the sight of the older man, he couldn't help but ask, "Are you alright?"

The brunette grunted.

"You…Look a little stressed out."

"I'm not allowed to smoke in here." he paused, "Or anywhere else in Begnion for that matter." he tapped his fingers on the blanket beneath him, "It's getting to me." he admitted.

Sothe slowly made his way to his own bed, eyeing the stressed-looking thief, "I see." he sat down on the too-clean blanket awkwardly. There was silence. After a while, with Volke staring up at the ceiling and Sothe discreetly staring at him, the younger thief broke the quiet, "How much do you want?"

The brunette blinked and glanced over, Sothe started as he was met with the garnet hue of the man's eyes, "How much do you have to offer?"

It was in a grudging way that the greenette answered, suddenly feeling like a fool with his meager funds, "T-two…Thousand." Volke blinked at him. The boy flushed, how could he have possibly thought that that would be enough? Well, he hadn't but…This wasn't going the way he wanted at all!

"Why is it so important to you?"

He hadn't really been expecting that… "Huh? Well…I…I guess I…" Sothe stumbled over his words, but, oddly, Volke just watched him patiently, "I want to be able to hold my own in a fight, be a person someone else can rely on…I want to be able to protect the ones I love."

Volke eyed him, "I'm just a thief; it seems an odd choice to turn to for help on the ways of battle."

Sothe shook his head vigorously and exclaimed, louder then intended, "But on the boat you protected me and Mia with more skill then she did!" he paused, "I-I don't know, I just want to know more about you." at that he cut off and his already pink-tinted skin darkened.

The elder smirked, "I see."

They fell silent again, Sothe feeling a tad mortified, and Volke still smirking. It was when the younger thief was beginning to doze off that the older man spoke up again, "I'll accept your price." the greenette jerked out of his half-asleep state and stared at the man opposite of him in shock.

"R-really?"

A half-grin, "You're in luck, little thief."

Sothe was smiling in shocked happiness for a total of five seconds. "Wait, what do you mean, 'little'?"

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A/N: And, yeah…I wrote a bit about Path of Radiance beginning of relationship stuff - but there was obviously a lot missing - as it was One or the Other. Which is set in Radiant Dawn. So, I wrote a little more, building on that idea I had. I'm sorry it wasn't too detailed or anything.

Here was were it all started. ^.^

**Tormod:** Review please!


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